Hawaii Top Ten

I should begin with saying that #1 is leaving your kid(s) at home. Vacations just aren't the same with your kid(s) dictating the entire schedule and agenda items.

For a quick contrast:

Vacation WITHOUT kid(s): sleeping in at your leisure;

Vacation WITH kid(s): wake up to "mama, beach?" "MAMA, BEACH!!"

Vacation WITHOUT kid(s): dust the sand off your feet as you meander slowly out to dinner;

Vacation WITH kid(s): drag your kid into the bath tub immediately to try to remove millions of sand particles from every possible orifice (including ones you really didn't think of)

Vacation WITHOUT kid(s): eat out at a lovely restaurant every evening, watching the sun go down;

Vacation WITH kid(s): force feeding mac-n-cheese in the hotel room

Vacation WITHOUT kid(s): explore the island and sunbathe

Vacation WITH kid(s): take a ride on the "Pineapple Express"

with that little disclaimer complete,

here is my Hawaii Top Ten!!!!

1. Eating Dole pineapple frozen deliciousness at the pineapple plantation.

2. Watching the amazing sunsets from our perch on the 35th of Trump Towers.

3. Taking the kids to the infinity pool at Trump. Wishing triplets on anyone who dare sneer at us with all 5 cousins screaming.

4. Playing on the beach with Parker, Trevor & Jane. (note: cleaning up from playing on the beach NOT in the top ten: see above disclaimer).

5. Kylie's adorable matching dress gift for Jane & Jocelyn. They were both nap-time zombies in this photo.

6. Aunt Kylie's weekend visit & playing with the kids so I could try to sleep in a little longer. Try.

7. Jane really took to the ukelele (sp?). She was rockin' it all week.

8. Jane and I woke up Tuesday morning to an amazing full rainbow as we sat on the balcony to eat our breakfast. What an amazing reminder of God's promises.

9. Also on Tuesday (Jane & I were rollin' solo that day) we ate a super delicious lunch on the patio at Roy's. She's showing off the seasoned edamame that she pretty much ate all of by herself.

10. Last morning. Savoring the view from our suite in Amanda's amazing apartment in the "tallest building". THANK YOU AUNT JODI & AUNT AMANDA for a fantastic trip!

So there you go.

Hawaii.

I swear I was there, I just was behind the camera. Trust me: be thankful.

Aloha & Mahalo,

Stace-in-your-face

Keeping in with this week's Peeps theme...

PEEPS KRISPY TREATS!!

(please note that the excellent photography in this post is copyrighted by Stacey Cheatham Wilson, thank you very much, and not stolen from any foodie website)

Can I get a 'what-what'?

Step One: Gather all your Peeps (the store was out of pink, bummer)

Step Two: Prep your generic box of Raley's Fine Foods Crispy Rice Cereal by opening it up and placing it by the stove.

Step Three: Melt your two tablespoons butter on medium heat. I usually use more, but this is seriously all we had in the house. Costco run tomorrow!

Step Four: Put all your peeps (at least 35 little critters) into the melting pot. Just as with Peepshi, ignore the silent screams of the poor little peeps.

Step Five: Look in that garbage and be amazed at the amount of peeps I will consume tomorrow when I eat all these peeps krispy treats by noon. Err.... ah... um, I mean not ME.... but perhaps the collective "you"?......

Step Six: try to keep both the burning sugar, as well as the mixing of colors, to a minimum by smooshing the peeps down within their own color group.

Step Seven: Add your Raley's Fine Foods Crispy Rice cereal to the melting pot (add as much as you want to keep it as marshmallowy as you like).

Step Eight: Now you can mix all those glorious colors together. This is the point that I really wished the store still had pink peeps. It would have made a less-puke-colored-and-more-rainbow-looking Peeps Krispy Treats.

Step Nine: Press the Peeps Krispy Treats into a greased (I had too use pam spray since I was out of butter) 13x9" pan. If it sticks, just lick your fingers. The reason is two-fold: one, the PKTs* won't stick to your fingers anymore; two, no one else can eat them since you essentially just licked the whole tray. Bonus!

Step Ten: Go into a diabetic coma from consuming more sugar than is humanly possible. Call your doctor.

*PKT = Peeps Krispy Treats, duh!

Peepshi

New Easter tradition:

Peepshi




If you'd rather: Peep Sushi


This "food" essentially combines my two ultimate favorites: Sushi and peeps. It looks like sushi, but is really not! Super cute, right?


Here's how this went down: Saturday was slow at the store, so I was cruising the "news" on Facebook. My dear scrapbooking friend Christina made some comment about wishing she was home making peep sushi.

HOLD THE PHONE.

Did she just say peep sushi?

Yes, she did.

So, I found this fabulousness at www.seriouseats.com. All you need is the packaged rice krispy treats (of course you could make your own, too), fruit-by-the-foot, and different colors of peeps. I was so excited that I went out and bought WAY too many peeps.


You then slice the treat, slice the fruit roll a little bit longer, and chop off some poor defenseless peep's head. Poor peep. Roll it up.


As we were down at the Fanoe cabin Saturday night pretty much all by ourselves, I made two plates full of Peepshi. But, did I bring my camera for Easter? NO. What a fabulous mom, right. FAIL.

Hopefully, you aren't dissatisfied by these stolen pictures off the seriouseats website. Mine looked sooo much better. Or, maybe kinda similar....




I asked several other people to take a photo of my Peepshi for me. We will see if I procure a copy soon. If so, will post!